Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Chapeau! and Panache!


The Giro di Italia is over and the snow has finally settled. Despite a soggy start and an icy, snowy finish, I quite liked this year’s race. I don’t think it was totally due to the fact that Team Project Forza’s big gun won the race. This year’s Giro was exciting from the start. Plus Italy may have the most beautiful scenery for the backdrop of a Grand Tour. Ischia, mmmmm, Ischia. Here are a few takes from this year’s Tour of Italy.

Chapeau! to Vincenzo Nibali. Lo Squalo, or the Shark, was super impressive in his win. He has now set himself apart as a true Grand Tour GC winner. Not that the Vuelta doesn’t matter, but winning this year’s Giro was impressionante. Nibbles stayed tranquillo throughout the race and as the other favorites were falling off their bikes and getting respiratory illnesses, the Shark steadily gained time, in the TT’s, on the descents, and of course, up the punchy climbs. It’s too bad that they canceled half the climbs of this year’s Giro or else he may have won by over ten minutes.

Chapeau! to Rigoberto Uran. Rigo was “hungry like a wolf” after his team leader dropped out on account of poor bike handling and lack of cajones. Respiratory problems, hahahahaha, lot of that going around these days. The Wolf really stepped up and made himself a lot of money as he will surely transfer next season to chase his own ambitions. His mullet will look good in the OPQS kit next year.

Chapeau! to Cadel Evans. Not a bad finish for a guy who didn’t know he was racing this year’s Giro.  Cuddles did his cuddly thing and was consistent enough to hang with the Shark and in turn got himself a high placing. Doesn’t hurt that as a former World Cup Mountain Bike racer he was able to descend with the best. Barring a mechanical on stage 20, Cadel could have finished ahead of the Wolf. Now Cuddles heads to the TdF to lead his BMC team. It will be interesting to see if all this racing helps him return to the top of the Grand Boucle or if he falters and TVG picks up where last year’s tour left off.

One of the big stories of this year’s Giro had to be the Polska renaissance. Both Przemysław Niemiec and Rafał Majka, dude kind of looks like Fujarky’s DS, were revelations in this Giro. The “Slaw” almost took over leadership of Lampre as Scarponi did his “I’m good this day”, “not so good this day” routine. Team Fujarky impressed with his pick-up of Majka. I did not expect the Pole to do as well as he did. Almost won the white jersey too, even attacked Betancur after a mechanical- weaksauce Saxo. This had to have been the best Polish Grand Tour exhibition since Zenon Jaskuła.

The Columbians were also a major story in this year’s Giro. Team Columbia were ok, we at least knew they were there. I would have expected more from Duarte and Atapuma. But the real story was the braces and mullet clad Betancur and Uran. I’ve already talked about the exploits of the “Wolf”. Carlos Betancur was really good on the climbs and probably could have even finished higher had the other climbs not been eliminated. He rode valiantly on stage 20 as he suffered from multiple mechanicals, a bike change, and a villainous attack from Majka and Saxo. Team Forza may decide to drop Gilbert and keep Betancur as a Dynasty pick for the future.

Team Sky was unbeatable in 2012 and started 2013 out the same way. However, Nibali has found a way to beat these boys. Sky is known for their methodical and science based riding but science doesn’t work when the racing is unconventionally tuff. Apparently the Sky team is very soft and do not like cold and rain. They can’t simulate that in Tenerife. So it will behoove Saxo, Movistar, et al. to race hard in all situations in the Tour. I honestly don’t see a Sky rider on the podium in this year’s Grand Boucle, ok so that might be a stretch.

One last thought about the Giro. Cav. The Innering declared him to be the best sprinter of all time. Anybody want to argue?
Forza!
Update:
A special chapeau from the Commish goes out to Fast Freddie Rodriguez for winning his fourth US championships.  Hopefully, Fast Freddie comes back to the Nature Valley Grand Prix this year.  And perhaps new Jelly Belly marketing rep/Fujarky director, Steven, can set up another interview with the new national champ.

Monday, May 27, 2013

From the Commish

Transfer Period 2 

The next round of transfers begins at 8 AM.  Transfers run until Midnight Saturday.  Same as before leave a comment to make a trade.  
This is the big one.  Time to get your Tour team in order.  It pays to make moves.  
Wiskota!

Giro!

Nibali Wins 
The Giro Barbie Dream Throne by Mattel.  Now available at FAO Sforza.

Gregario begins his comeback.
The points are posted.  More commentary still to come. 

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

On the Rivet

A look at who's racing hard this week... 
Belgium and Bavaria

Greips!

Although the Giro is by far the most important race going on this week, we shouldn't completely forget about the rest of the cycling world.  We'll save that for France in July.  The Tour of Belgium.  How many tours does this country get?  It seems like we have been racing here since February.  Well, I'm cool with that and you know Greipel's cool with that.  Although much of this race will be too hilly for the big German he is sure to grab a sprint win here or there.  I mean just look at this dudes legs.
Ladies love the legs, Greips...not to mention your East Berlin sensibilities, sweet shades
Look for a punchy climber to win in Belgium.  PhilGil should take this one.  Or does he have too much jet lag?  Come on buddy.

Bayern Rundfahrt
Bavaria has Frauleins

Let's not forget about Germany.  Seems like we are always forgeting about Germany.  Italy, France and Spain all get a grand tour what does Germany get?  The Tour of Bavaria.  German's have made a big stink about the doping era and many feel that this has stymied the development of the sport in the fatherland.  Others feel that it is the German language itself.  Le Tour, Il Giro, La Vuelta...Der Rundfahrt.  Three of these things belong together.
Anyways, look for one of the G men to take this race, either Geraint Thomas or Simon Gerrans.  Or perhaps Big Jan Ullrich will give it another run.

Haben Sie eine gute fahrt!
See, it's not the most poetic language.

Go Team Wiskota!
Of course we couldn't leave out a little Giro update.  Forza and Fujarky looking good.  The rest of us just looking for some placings.  Check the comments for Gregario's more nuanced take on the race so far.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Broom Wagon

Cleaning up after the week's events...

Tour of California
TVG finally takes home a stage race win.  
I won a stuffed bear!

Team Wiskota Dynamic cleaned house with the two leading points earners at the ToC.  TVG racked up the overall GC as well as plenty of stage points along the way.  Peter Sagan only managed to win two stages but with some other high placings still brought home a pretty sizable point total.  Even Chava managed to score two 8th place finishes chipping in his 4 points.  All in all, it is pretty clear who dominated this race.  However, the efforts of the other teams should not be overlooked.  The much maligned Tyler Farrar made the Commish eat crow as he took his first stage of the season and managed to get several more podium finishes throughout the week.  Speaking of high finishes, Thor cast his hammer back into the fast man conversation with several top ten finishes.  Is this the beginning of a resurgence for Farrar and Thor?  Just in time for Le Tour?  Taco hopes so. Gregario Forza's hard to define rider, Lieuwe Westra, brought in a respectable 44 points winning stage one and finishing second in the TT.  The ToC seemed a little different this year, different lineup, different course.  What did you think?  Better or worse?

Mick Rogers came in second, scoring 92 points.
Too bad nobody drafted him...wait, what?

Friday, May 17, 2013

Almanzo 100






Team Wiskota will be represented once again in the great gravel race of southern Minnesota, the Almanzo 100.  Come on down to Preston by 11 AM to cheer team Volpe director Patrick on to victory.  Patrick looks to improve upon his impressive 7 and a half hour time from last year.  Volpe just may to be hiding some sneaky early season form, so come on down and have some fun.

This tough son of a bitch drove 40 miles
through a blizzard in order to save his town
from starving.  You can make it 100 on a bike.

UPDATE:
Patrick posted a new personal best time of 6 hours and 38 minutes.  Pretty hard core.  Slightly less hard core than the dude who rode the course on a fixie only pulling over to have a couple slugs of whiskey, but Patrick beat that guy so I guess it about evens out. 

Friday, May 10, 2013

On the Rivet


Tour of California Preview
Remember these guys?  Well they're too old now.
Neither rider will be returning to this year's ToC,
opening the door for the next generation of riders.  

It's a special time of year when pro cycling finally makes it's way across the pond onto the sunny shores of California.  Gone are the 5 in the morning start times, gone are crappy pirated feeds; to be replaced by happy hour finishes shown in crystal clear HD.  Sure the ToC still isn't the Giro or even Paris-Nice but we still get some real legitimate talent here.  It looks like another climby edition of the ToC but as we know it's only as hard as the riders want it to be.  Will they come out flying or will some of the chunkier riders be allowed to make it over the early climbs.  This year, as in the past, the race will probably be decided in two important stages; stage 6's TT and stage 7's mountain top finish.  The time trial has a wicked stinger at the end 3k straight up.  Will that climb be too long for a power TT guy like Chavanel or maybe just right for a climby TT guy like VanGarderen.  Either way the next day's stage finish on Mount Diablo (epic massive name, brah) will almost definitely determine the overall winner.  Don't miss that stage.  

Wiskota Riders to Watch
Cannondale sends their young euro duo to score some
California podium girls, I mean stage wins. 
  
The allure of California girls always attracts the best and brightest of the Peloton.  Cannondale looks to continue dominating stage wins with Eastern European power house Peter Sagan.  Sagan loves America and although he is not "from here" he does know how to spell in English.  This year he'll have the support of Taco's up and coming phenom Moreno Moser.  Probably to much climbing for Moser to challenge GC but you never know.

PhilGil hopes to ride triumphantly into San Francisco
in all of his rainbow glory
BMC brings one of the strongest teams to the ToC as they look to support the GC aspirations of TeeJay Van Garderen.
We are going to continue to call this guy TVG until the nickname sticks

Probably the biggest name in the fight for GC has to be Andy Schleck.  His season has been horrible, but with most of the big name climbers busy at the Giro this is a pretty good opportunity to turn it around.
I hope RadioShack ends up supporting the guy on the left.
Matt Busche has local ties as well as a sneakily impressive palmares in the States.
Not to be forgotten are Thomas DeGendt and Lieuwe Westra.  Will they be riding hard or getting practice for Le Tour.  Another story to follow is that of Tyler Farrar.  Can he win a sprint against mostly second tier sprinters.  The Commish thinks not and looks forward to mocking him.  Lastly, my favorite storyline to watch for involves a former WFL rider.  Former ToC champ Mick Rogers was recently dropped by point strapped Gregario Forza instantly making him one of the favorites to win.  

Predictions
WFL Podium:
TVG
Westra
DeGendt

Spoilers:
Busche
Rogers
Mancebo


Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Giro Update

Cav
Dude, your wife's watching.
Cavendish takes stage 1 and with it the Pink Jersey

Sky
SkyNet Activate
The well oiled Sky train took time out of everybody at the TTT.
Sports Science

Paolini
Luca gets away for a stage 3 victory.
This comes as no surprise to those who follow The Commish @TeamWiskota
Also, dude likes his new helmet.

Some guy I've never heard of
Live it up, Bro

Degenkolb
It's got to be the mustache. Still popular in Italy.
Taco's sprinter is starting to pay dividends with a stage 5 win.

It's been an action packed Giro so far.  The top 5 favorites are all still close together and should remain so until the first individual time trial this weekend.  Wiggo has been attacked numerous times, but was only gapped on a messy crash filled finish.  However, Nibbles and Hesjedal have made up for any time lost in the TTT already.  One of the highlights so far has been the attacks on the descents as well as the sprint efforts by GC contenders for precious bonus seconds.  Loving the race so far and would love to hear your opinion on it.
Also, this happened

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Team Time Trial Recon

Ischia

In preparation for the 2013 Giro team time trial the Commish traveled to the isle of Ischia to scope the finish for Team Wiskota Dynamic.  

planimetria
The route
The teams finish in the city of Forio on the far side of the Island of Ischia.  Although, time trials are usually not the most exciting of stages, this stage promises to be extremely beautiful.
The Soccorso Church, a stone's throw from the finish line

Looks like this guy could climb the Stelvio

Team Sky is the favorite for this TTT, but with many twists and turns we could see a surprise.  Look for Astana and Movistar to post good times, while Phinney may just single handedly power BMC to victory.

Friday, May 3, 2013

Giro Preview

Italia!

3702238740_23ea203c7d_b_large
The Stelvio Looms


The first grand tour of the season is finally upon us.  This is where WFL points flow like Peroni and victory is as sweet as cannoli.  The mountain stages are as satisfying as lasagna and the sprint stages are as hot as penne arrabiata.    

The WFL brings all kinds of riders to the Giro including the consensus top 5 contenders.

Maillot Jaune Guilaume will be sipping Negronis as Bradley Wiggins attempts to win his first Giro d'Italia.   The overall favorite brings a strong team and is emboldened by the amount of TT miles in this year's race.  Bill may have to wash those Negronis back with some Morretti as his Italian hopeful Scarponi looks for another podium finish.

Gregario Forza is hoping to pop the Prosecco when his team leader Vincenzo Nibali takes the  Maglia Rosa in the mountains and never gives it back.  Forza made some huge moves during transfer season as he has a lot of ground to make up.  Gregario will be knocking back happy hour Martini's as he gets to watch a taped HD presentation of the race every day.   We'll keep inviting ourselves over until he let's us join n the fun.  Forza also added a Basque and a Colombian rider (Intxausti and Betancur) proving that he knows that this race is won in the mountains.

Team Fujarky will be as loaded as his Giro squad when he celebrates all of his victories with shots of Sambuca.  Returning champ Ryder Hesjedal and perennial favorite Cadel Evans lead the Fujarky squad in what promises to be a tidal wave of Italian points.  With Henao and the addition of some solid transfer moves, Fujarky may end up laughing at all of us while he sips Bellini's under the Tuscan sun.

Dirty Sanchez's team director Taco should stock up on a case of Chianti as he brings his squad's namesake,  and overall contender, Sammy Sanchez to the Giro.  The Sanchez's could have benefited from some  transfer moves but team director Taco maintains his signature machismo style, preferring to reserve his panache for the nightlife of the Peacock lounge.  Team Wiskota's resident playboy lives the Giro d'Italia life while the rest of us watch it on our laptops.  Taco will be living La Dolce Vita as he washes down his bistecca with a few lemmoncello dessert shots, all while his sprinter Degenkolb racks up the Lira.

Team Wiskota Dynamic will need to carbo load on some parpadelle in order to keep pace with all of the favorites.  Gesink and the pluthera of other GC hopefuls Dynamic picked up should probably stick to the Pelegrino if they hope to score some top ten finishes.  As for the team director, I'll be sampling some Sangiovese as I watch Cobo and Team Movistar blow the peloton apart on the hills outside of Florence.

Team Volpe better fire up the espresso machine first thing in the morning so he can get as jacked up as his sprinter extraordinaire, Mark Cavendish.  Volpe looks to get all wrapped up in a bottle of Montepulciano as he'll be seeing red in more way then one when Cav makes his push for the Maglia Rosso Passione.  The points jersey is worth 75 points this season so Volpe may be using his Bianchi mafioso ties to encourage the race referee to look the other way as Cav hitches a ride in the high mountains.  When all is said and done, if Volpe can hang on to third place as well as Cav hangs on to his team car, he'll be cracking open some well deserved Peronis.

A few teams made some moves before the Giro and there are a lot of rider's who have gone unmentioned.  Check the startlist for your riders and don't forget to tune in to the most beautiful of grand tours.  Viva Italia, Viva Il Giro!